From Penn to the Grand Ole OpryPenn graduate making it in Nashville

February 15, 2006|LAUREEN FAGAN Tribune Staff Writer

Tom Powell of Mishawaka is happy to talk about native sons and daughters who've done well in the music biz. Pete and Conte Candoli, born back in the 1920s. Remo Belli, whose plastic drumheads revolutionized the instrument, and whose company bears the Remo name. "I went to school with him," said Powell, now in his 70s. Powell's a musician himself, playing mandolin and often participating in the Osceola Bluegrass Festival. But these days, it's his son Scott he wants to brag about. Now 42 and living in Tennessee, Scott's hard work on the keyboards is finally starting to pay off -- big time. On Friday, he'll be playing the Grand Ole Opry with country star Mark Wills. And it's no surprise to Powell, who said Scott was a natural musician from birth. "When Scott was born, he had these long, slim fingers," Powell said. "I said, 'Sweetheart, we have a piano player.'" When he was a 3 years old, Powell said, Scott had to stand up to reach the keys of an old, beat-up piano left behind by the previous tenants. And later, in high school, Scott gravitated to music, playing with other guys. Yes, he played a few years of football, and he stayed with Penn's track team, but music won out in the end. "He gravitated more towards music," Powell said, chuckling about Scott's youthful attraction to it. "The girls were more into music then." They probably still are. But with a wife and young son, Scott's got more on his mind now that his keyboard work is making a name for him. "He's been down there about three years now," said Powell, adding that Scott is now looking to move to Nashville's east side, closer to the airport, so that he can fly on tour more easily. "It hasn't been easy," Powell said of Scott's journey, especially in the early days. Scott worked days -- at Woodwind and Brasswind for a while -- while he played with local bands, in local clubs. After a while, those night gigs became a full-time occupation, but not until Scott had paid his dues along the way. "We worried about him sleeping in the car," he said. Now, Powell worries about his son sleeping with cows. "They play tricks on each other," he explained of the country musicians Scott works with, including Craig Morgan. "Craig Morgan put a cow on their tour bus." But even with this measure of success, he never forgets where he comes from. "He has a Mishawaka T-shirt he sometimes wears onstage," Powell explained. "People recognize it."